Adding John Tavares to their roster pre-season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were expected to take the Stanley Cup without a hitch, but they trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by 14 points and the New York Islanders are only one point behind them.
Tavares’ former team, who was supposed to be at the bottom of the barrel for this season, is only a point behind them. Auston Matthews, who spent a portion of the season recovering from injury is one of Toronto’s few bright spots, but even his 1.21 points per game has not put him in the league’s top ten. Their team stats have not exactly been top tier, either. Center Mitchell Marner is their top point-getter with 63, which is only 10th best in the National Hockey League. Tavares is 24th with 56 and Morgan Rielly is 32nd with 52. In two of the last three seasons, the top point-getter on the Cup-winning team was in the top three of point-getters in the entire NHL. The numbers do not bode well for the Maple Leafs if they keep up these poor numbers. They are also only 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, the overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings who are the third worst team in the Eastern Conference. Their other four losses are to the Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, and the Boston Bruins. Boston is the only one of these teams who are in a position to acquire even a Wild Card spot. That brings up another interesting point involving the Bruins. Their mean age is 26.03 years old, meaning that they are a very young team that Toronto will have to contend with for years to come, which hinders their shot at future Cups, as well. Why is that so important if Boston is struggling to hold onto a Wild Card spot? This season, the Bruins and Leafs faced four times, three of which Boston won. One of those Boston wins was in Toronto. Boston also won two of those games by three goals or more, losing their only loss by two goals. Now, the Leafs are only slightly older than the Bruins, their mean age is 26.33 years old, but their record against this young Boston team shows that they will have troubles with Boston in not only this year’s postseason, where the two have a high chance of playing each other, but in future seasons for at least the next five years. If teams like Boston are going to be such a roadblock for the team that was supposed to have an easy road to the Stanley Cup this season, then the Leafs are in for some major issues. Not to mention that a team from perpetually warm Tampa Bay, Florida is beating them at a game played on ice, something Tampa has not seen naturally occurring since December 23 of 1989. Toronto is in trouble and is ultimately a disappointment to their fanbase. Jesse A. Cook “Maple Leafs Aren’t Everything They Should Be” February 6, 2019
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Going 7-1-2 in their last ten games, the Boston Bruins have skated into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Behind scoring from Charlie McAvoy, David Backes, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, the Bruins have soared into a pretty playoff position.
In fourth, if the season ended now, Boston would face the fifth place Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s not exactly an easy series for Boston, as they lost to Toronto in their two matchups this season 3-2 and 4-1 to the Leafs on November 10th and 11th, respectively. However, in December, Boston went on the rise. Chad Zimmerman, a writer for the Causeway Crowd, a division of FanSided, said, “The Boston Bruins five game win streak was snapped on Thursday night (December 28, 2017) in a disappointing loss. At least they have a good chance to rebound.” Yes, Braden Holtby and Alex Ovechkin led the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over Boston, but they took the B’s to a shootout where only one goal was scored. A hard fight against the second best team in the East and the sixth best in hockey is a sign of good things to come in 2018. With the Tampa Bay Lightning way ahead in first place with 58 points, the Bruins are not thinking about catching them, yet. While first is a long shot, at 48, they are only three points out second place, currently held by the Caps. The B’s won their last game 5-0 over the Ottawa Senators. Tuukka Rask pitched his 40th career shutout. Ever since head coach Bruce Cassidy threatened Tuukka Rask’s job by starting Anton Khudobin for a couple games, Rask took initiative and has looked as good as he did back in the 2013-14 season when he won the Vezina Trophy. The goaltender has made a huge change, calmed down, and taken back the helm of this Stanley Cup caliber team. Rask has .923 save percentage and Khudobin has a .922 save percentage, the eighth and ninth best, respectively, in the league! With great gloves in the blue crease, Boston is proving a formidable opponent to the other 30 teams in the NHL. In the entire month of December, Rask did not suffer a regulation loss. He went 10-0-1 in the final month of 2017! His steady hand on the wheel is bringing Boston back to their rightful place atop the Eastern Conference and all of the entire National Hockey League! The scrappy Scandinavian skater held his own in the latter half of the 2017 portion of this 2017-2018 season and as January begins, he prepares for a start against the eighth place New York Islanders. Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss split the games at goaltender for New York with Halak playing five more games at 24. Rask has a clear advantage considering Greiss has a save percentage of .884 and Halak .905. In addition to Beantown’s chances at a good spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while they are just two points behind the third place New Jersey Devils and three behind the Caps, they have played the least games out of any team in the league at 37, tied only by the 14th place in the East Senators and the first in the West Las Vegas Golden Knights. Boston has played one less game than the Devils and a whopping three less than D.C. Happy hockey and Happy New Year! Jesse A. Cook “Behind Boston’s Bruins’ Boom” January 1, 2018 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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